Kyle Freeland pitched 6 1/3 strong innings, Willi Castro and Mickey Moniak homered and the Colorado Rockies beat the Houston Astros 5-1 in Denver on Tuesday night.
Castro finished with three hits and three RBIs while TJ Rumfield singled twice for Colorado, which has won three in a row.
Freeland (1-1) became the first Rockies starter to pitch into the seventh inning this season. He allowed one run on three hits, struck out five and walked one — the first batter of the game.
Antonio Senzatela threw 2 2/3 perfect innings to pick up his first career save.
Christian Walker homered, one of just three hits for the Astros, who have lost three in a row.
Walker hit a solo homer with one out in the second inning to give Houston a 1-0 lead, but Freeland was virtually untouched after that.
Rockies catcher Brett Sullivan helped Freeland by using ABS challenges to get inning-ending strikeouts in the first and sixth innings. Freeland left after giving up a one-out single to Cam Smith in the seventh inning.
The Rockies, who had an eight-run fifth inning in a 9-7 win over Houston on Monday, scratched across a run in the bottom of the second on Tuesday. Troy Johnston led off with a single, went to second on a walk and scored on Castro’s single to tie it.
Colorado went ahead with a two-out rally in the fourth. Rumfield singled to center and Castro hit a 2-1 slider into the Rockies’ bullpen, his first homer of the season. The hosts chased Astros starter Mike Burrows after Rumfield’s one-out single in the sixth.
Burrows (1-2) allowed three runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked one.
Colorado padded its lead in the seventh. Kyle Karros drew a walk from reliever Steven Okert. Kai-Wei Teng took over on the mound and retired one batter before Moniak launched his third homer of the season.
The Rockies will shoot for a sweep of the three-game series on Wednesday afternoon.
–Field Level Media
